Is “Leave it to Beaver” in the public domain? Because every episode is on Archive.org. MeTV is still showing them, and if the series were in the public domain you’d think it would be on a lot of channels.
On Facebook, Jerry Mathers recently pointed out that he had worked with Hugh Beaumont before LITB. Watching this promotional film for a cemetery, you can see why Hugh was hired to play Ward Cleaver.
Thanks for the clarification, Brian.
@ DOuGpRATt
Yes, LITB is in the public domain. I am a copyright attorney. LITB aired from 1957-1963, and anything created before 1964 is in the public domain. Anything created after 1964 is copyrighted for 95 years after first publication.
Ken – Thanks. That explains why the first two seasons came out on DVD, then there was nothing for a while. Shout! Factory is an excellent outfit. I believe it was started by one of the former Rhino Records guys.
Leave It To Beaver is not public domain. The first two seasons are owned by Universal. The last four seasons are owned by Shout Factory. The shows are still being sold on DVD through Amazon Prime.
I hope this helps clear any confusion. You don’t want to be sued by a major company for breaking copyright laws. I don’t know if Archive.org got special permission. But, when you look at the download it doesn’t state that its Public Domain. And, you’re right, if it were public domain you’d be seeing it used in today’s commercials.
Also, I may have mentioned these items before: Jerry Mathers has a younger brother, Jimmy, who could have been his identical twin. He was also a child actor. I was first tipped off when he appeared on an episode of “Bewitched.” I knew Jerry couldn’t have aged backward, so this had to be his brother. Yep. The credits proved me right.
Also, on a public domain Christmas tape circa very early 50s is a badly filmed (or over-copied) short called “The Greatest Gift” or something like that, where the perfect Mom and Dad decorate the Christmas tree with their perfect 2.5 children. Why, there’s young Jerry, begging Mom to tell them the Nativity story! It diesn’t even show up on his IMDB listings, but it’s him, alright.
They should! 🙂
I noticed emoticons don’t translate.
??? He almost died! Molly would approve of the architecture and layout of the cool retro Rose Hill, and she’s very picky. But the most important question: is Bobby’s house REALLY in order? Can he deal with the stress of being Ward … er … Dad’s executor? It just might … kill him for real this time. ???